Monsoon of Trepidation
by Scalesies
Summary: Two survivors from a brutal crash wake up, stranded on an unknown planet. It is teeming with life, but is filled with aggressive fauna who threaten to murder both of them. Alongside a previously chained creature, they adventure the world, attempting to learn the mysteries of this planet. Fanfic based on the indie game on Steam, Risk of Rain.


The only thing I can feel was sharp, rigid pains in my body. My vision is heavily blurred; I can barely see anything. I can't move at all. Flame, mechanical parts, and bodies are heavily strewn around me. All I can recall of what happened before this was limited. The one thing I saw was a strange creature aboard one of the units, and it destroyed everyone and everything. I can't think anymore, the pain is overwhelming my body and mind. As I close my exhausted eyes, I see a man in a blue suit and a creature of purple colour approaching me.

* * *

I strain my eyelids apart. My vision is still blurry as all hell, but I can figure out what things are close to me. I am propped up against something. A wall, I assume. I attempt to stagger up, but a sudden wave of nausea sends me buckling down like a calf. The inside of my round helmet begin to fog up from my heavy breathing. It was all I can to prevent lurching inside of my suit. After a minute of this, my stomach calmed down. I stand back up, slowly, and after pressing a rather well concealed button, it defogged my helmet. Everything is foreign and strange, confusing me of my location. I also realize that all of my colleagues aboard that ship were dead, and if they weren't, most likely doomed to die on this planet. Like me, I thought.

Personally, being alone on an unknown planet, with _everyone_ you know dead, is incredibly frightening. I find it more terrifying even more so than knowing the time of your death. Well, of course, that depends for everyone, but I guess it doesn't really matter at the moment. However, as I began to leave my awakening site, the speaker inside my suit flickers to life. A voice comes out of it, surprising me greatly.

"You awake, Commando?" Asks the voice in the speaker. I look around, and see a man wielding a large riot shield beside another wall. He is wearing the same blue suit I saw before, and has a shotgun in his other hand. Beside him is a monstrous animal, which has glowing green eyes and a unwelcoming acidic mouth. I realize who it was, one of the others stationed aboard the now destroyed ship.

"Enforcer?" I ask, still astonished that someone rather than me was alive. The ship exploded into pieces, I already found it miraculous enough that I am still living and breathing. Enforcer chuckles a bit; I guess he finds it funny how I have to ask to see if he is actually Enforcer. I should clear up something; Commando and Enforcer aren't our actual names. It's only the, well, as you would say, 'class' we belong in. My actual name is Carsten Gewehr. As you can probably tell, my only background is of German. While I don't speak German, my now deceased parents did.

Enforcer's actual name is Alexander Beschermer. He is from several backgrounds, but his mother's most prominent one was Dutch. To stay true to his mother's wishes, his father named him in Dutch. He used to be able to speak Dutch alongside English, but it was wiped from his memory after speaking English only for an extended period of time. He also knew some fragments of Latin, but that was also forgotten, washed away by time.

"Hey, Carsten. You too uncomfortable using our class names, or something?" Alexander said, stifling a laugh. He always teased me, and when I teased him, or, tried to, he would still use it to tease me back. I never understood how he was able to do that.

I get a bit annoyed by this, and so I open my mouth to retort. I am suddenly cut off by a bolt of green causing a burn mark to the wall beside me. I jump in surprise. I see a green flame poking around the corner, but I didn't even realize that Alexander and the creature were expecting it. They both leap into action, making the wisp-like creature die. I see it's mask become singular, no longer engulfed, as it toppled to the floor.

"As you can tell, the planet's life isn't exactly welcoming of us. We should move. Do you have your guns still?" Alexander asked me. I reach instinctively to the two gun sheathes on each side of my waist. I let out a relaxed sigh as my hands wrap around the two items that will preserve my life. As I jog over to Alexander and the creature, I whip out my guns. We began to move silently, Alexander leading the way. His shield looks rather large and a burden; I wonder how he manages to constantly carry that on his arm. As I glance towards the purple creature lumbering behind Alexander and positioned in front of me, I let out a question.

"Does this creature have a name?" I ask, to which Alexander lets out a prompt grunt to. I saw his head nod a bit. "His name is Acrid. I found him in a crate, and I had to defeat him. He spat acid, which took me aback. Still bashed him with my shield until he tamed." I winced at this. Alexander has a nasty blow with his shield. He is able to lift his arm up and literally bat the enemy away. I had never been in the receiving area of that, thankfully. Suddenly, Alexander called to me in an urgent voice. "Enemies ahead."

I looked ahead, seeing a large horde of humanoid-like creatures. They are purple and wield tails, but that is the only resemblance between them and Acrid. They also have metal parts on their shoulders and legs. Not entirely dull creatures, I assume. They notice us, and my brain commands me to shoot at them. I run out from behind the two, and I shoot at them with as much as I please. Alexander follows suit, shooting at the enemies without mercy. They all fall before they reach us. Any of the lizard-men who were close were shot dead by Alexander.

"I found a strange structure nearby here. I didn't activate it, and I wasn't planning to until you woke up. Now that you woke up, well, time to find out." Alexander spoke, his voice sounding emotionless. He is able to choose his mood so quickly. I spot him already moving, and I run in place behind. I also note that Acrid, looking like a murderous machine, was rather lax about battling. As we walk up a slight slope, I see a black structure poking up. Not very big, but rather intruding. The three of us circle around it, and I spot a timer. On the timer, it said '0:90 seconds'. I note a button underneath the timer, and without thinking, I press it.

We all fall to the ground; the earth is quaking below us, and the timer began to count upwards. The land beside me rips apart as a large monster towers over me. I look behind me, and scream in terror. It is a large worm, about what I assume to be around 1000 meters long. However, unlike any other worm I have seen, this one was lathered with magma and flames. I scramble away as it plunges into the ground, barely avoiding it's gaping maw. Alexander and Acrid were already up, so I stumble to my feet as the Magma Worm arcs in the air after it crashes through the ground once again. However, this time, I'm completely frozen. I stare at it's eyes, watching as they connected with mine. It descended again, but this time I was directly in it's way.

Then I notice something large and black slapping it away. I look at ground level once again, and see that Alexander smacked it away before it could eat me. "Get up, Carsten!" He yells over the speaker. He holds out his hand, which I promptly grab to balance myself.

"Don't let this planet kill you this early." He huffs over the speaker. Just as he finished saying that, the monster revealed itself out of the earth once again. I begin to unload my ammo into him, and when he came back down, I jumped into a roll and dodged him. I saw Alexander nod, and the Magma Worm rips through the ground, but it was in between me and Alexander. I hear his rocket launcher go off. There is a large explosion, and then I notice that the area it hit blasted it's body off. Blood sprays everywhere, splattering a large amount of my helmet.

I let out a stiff breath as the Worm crashes beside me, never to live again. I proceed to wipe off the blood, and I take a moment to realize how covered in blood I am. I notice a large amount of enemies coming our way. There are smaller versions of that green flame monster, and they were orange. It also seems there are golems. How many creatures on this planet want to kill us? As I run back to Alexander and Acrid, I already see Acrid doing something. He shoots out an orange substance, which landed right on one of the creatures. It noticeably gets weaker, and then it spread. All the enemies succumb to whatever Acrid shot at them, their faces looking twisted with pain and sickness. However, I notice the Worm's eye still moving. I shudder as I approach. It seems like it was something that was not truly part of the Worm. I rip it out, to which Alexander makes a disgusted noise as I do so.

I feel a pulse of power as I hold it in my hand. Suddenly, I realize there is a trail of fire at my feet. I run back over to Alexander, who is staring like he saw a ghost, or at least as far I can tell through his helmet. I put the eye into a container located inside my suit, but it's effects still stay. "Is that the eye doing that...?" He whispers in astonishment. "I guess. Maybe that's how the Worm had that flame?"

We hear Acrid cry out suddenly. He was hit by a Wisp, the creature had been creeping up on him. I unload my gun into it, as Alexander is too far away to shoot it. We rush over to Acrid, but he snaps at us when as we try to look at his wound. We both reel back defensively, and Acrid gets back up. "Guess he doesn't like being touched." Alexander observed.

We all head back to the teleporter. I look at the timer. It is full, and I hear Alexander say something. I walk over to his location, and I look at what he found. It was another screen, which said 'No Enemies Remaining.'

"We should probably sleep. It says there's no enemies. It would be surprising if any of us weren't tired, even you, Carsten." He said. "Why me?" I ask in return.

"Because you were asleep for a couple of hours after the crash." He points out. Despite it not being my fault, my face flushes in embarrassment. Thank god he isn't able to see through my helmet, or else he'd be teasing me all over again. A drop of water falls onto my helmet. I wipe it off.

"Risk of Rain, huh." I whisper under my breath.

* * *

**Chapter 1 -END-**


End file.
